A Different Type of Magic
by sempiternity
Summary: There is a house across the street that possessed a type of magic that made Aria curious. But not the type of magic that makes you experience that happy little tingle within your heart… this was the magic that made you doubt. That tells you that you are alone, afraid, and there is nothing and nowhere you can go to escape. This house was Number four Pivot Drive.
1. Chapter 1

The twilight casted an unreal vision upon the white washed of the home. It is true that during the day the small home of number four Pivot Drive looked perfectly normal with the sunlight pouring down, but when the moon emerged and everyone asleep- the house changed into something almost magical. But not in the magic that makes you experience that happy little tingle within your heart… this was the magic that made you doubt. That tells you that you are alone, afraid, and there is nothing and nowhere you can go to escape.

Aria had lived on this street for as long as she could remember, yet had never truly understood what made this strange house any different from the rest. Every night, right before bedtime she would curl up on the window seat with her stuffed lion and peek around the curtains across the street. The sight that greeted her eyes always made her shiver in fear and excitement.

She knew that she was lucky. She had a dad who played tickle monster with her and she had an older brother, who when he was home from boarding school would pick her up and twirl her around and ask how his little Cinderella was doing. She knew that she was not alone and that she was safe under her well-worn covers, yet she still felt a chill when she saw this strange sight each night.

But Aria was an inquisitive, little girl and on her seventh birthday she decided she was now old enough to explore the mystery of the Lonely House. So she packed a backpack up with all the necessities that a famous detective would have. There was the key ring flashlight that daddy had bought her at a gift shop of a museum and bird watching binoculars that Aria had found in the crowded space under the stairs. The bungee cords used for lashing the Christmas tree to the top of their battered van each year was also thrown into the bag… just in case. Then all the small things like her mother's locket for good luck and her stuffed lion named Majesty in case she needed someone to protect her.

Then after dinner of her favorite meal of chocolate chip pancakes and a home-made funfetti cake with skittles on top, she scrambled upstairs as quickly as her fluffy socks could take her and closed her eyes feigning sleep. Her father checked in, as she knew he would, and patted her cheek, but Aria knew that daddy would go straight to bed because he started his construction job really, really early.

She darted down the stairs so fast that she almost forgot her favorite hat with the pompoms, because teacher always said that cold, night air caused coughs in little girls. But Aria made it out the house with no incidents, carefully closing the door behind her and creeping down the wooden, front-porch steps. It was only then that she looked up to witness the full glory of the Lonely House.

The sight caused a cold wind to wrap around her heart now that her familiar bedroom was not there to protect her. She shivered and almost took a step back only to thrust back her small shoulders and walk determinedly forward.

Across her lawn full of dandelions, over the dark, midnight pavement (she DID look both ways), and up to the perfectly pruned bushes she crept. Then gathering up the last of her courage she stood high up on her tippy toes and peeked into the kitchen window.

The room was normal, and looked very familiar to her own brightly lit kitchen at home, yet there was something else in there.

It was a little boy, near her own age, who sat on the freshly scrubbed tiles staring blankly ahead.

The boy was average-looking, with ebony, messy hair and small frame. But it was his eyes that gave Aria pause. His eyes were the greenest green she had ever seen. They were green as a leprechaun's hat and green as the great, big bullfrog that hopped around the neighborhood pond. But not only were they that stunning color, they also had so much within them.

His eyes were shielded with a broken pair of glasses, yet that could not prevent Aria from seeing everything that was held in the very soul of that young boy. In fact, she now understood why that house looked and felt the way it did. For that boy's eyes held all the wonderfully, dreadful magic that had scared Aria every night. He was in essence the loneliness and the desperateness that had caused Aria to come here in the first place.

Gape mouth, Aria studied him. She tilted her head left and right and decided that this mystery was only half solved. She now knew what had caused the entire house to feel how it does, but the question on why this little boy was so alone in spirit that it physically hurt her, was still unanswered.

She had never seen this boy. There was a fat, whale man that lived here as well as a skinny, giraffe woman that often came in and out the door of this house. In fact, there was another young boy with beady eyes that sat at the back of her bus that lived here as well. But this green-eyed boy was new to her.

Right then and there she promised herself that she would solve the newly named mystery of the Lonely Boy. So she nodded to herself, pushed her pale, blonde locks behind her ear, and raised her small fist to knock on the window pane.


	2. Chapter 2

Knees shaking and hands trembling nevertheless with a courage only an innocent child can muster, Aria lightly tapped the cool pane of glass. The boy within darted his head up and looked around with almost a fearful glint to his eyes, yet the green depths were also filled with a resigned air. The look was something that would only belong on a face of someone who was trodden down to such a degree that they had completely given up to their fate. That feeling certainly did not belong on the face of a child.

When he saw nothing, he glanced down to his pale, clasped hands and started to fidget with the hem of his much too large, tattered t-shirt. Aria chose this moment to again tap the window, but this time she timidly raised her hand and waved as well. This time he caught the movement and started as he witnessed the most beautiful sight he had seen in his young life.

An angel was peeking over the ledge of the window directly in front of him. The light of the newly risen moon framed her golden, curly locks and her pale skin seemed to glow with an unearthly appeal. But it was her eyes that drew the small boy in. Her eyes were a blue that could portray the exact color of the summer sky after a refreshing rainstorm. It was a blue that described freedom and spirit… and love that always seemed like a far-off dream to that little boy. It seemed that those eyes opened a door to the very soul of that apparition in front of him. And her soul was truly stunning.

But then the angel did something that made him take another look at this ghostly form in front of him.

She smiled.

At him.

Now he realized that this had to be one of his midnight hallucinations that so often plagued the haunted mind of this young boy. He had seen other beautiful figures… like a kind-eyed woman with long, fiery locks.

That woman had smiled at him too

But he soon learned that those smiles would disappear in the morning, only to be replaced with the scowls of those who claimed they were his family.

This was no angel. She would leave too. And he would be left alone.

There was magic in the moments that the smiles shone down on this lonely, little boy. Yet this type of magic was different. It was the type that left as soon as it came. It was the type of magic that filled the heart with hope, yet as soon as it was gone the despair settled in tenfold.

The little boy learned not to get his hopes up anymore concerning these smiles, yet he couldn't help but smile back.

When Aria saw this smile she smiled even wider and proceeded to wave with full force.

She liked the little boy's smile, even if it looked like he didn't practice it all that much. She liked it because it made his green eyes crinkle up on the sides as well as taking a little of that overwhelming despair out. It made him look less like an old man, but more like the young boy he was supposed to be.

Feeling confident that the Lonely Boy was not so lonely anymore, she beckoned him toward her.

The little boy stood up from his huddled crouch and tentatively crept toward the window. Every so often he glanced back at the door of the kitchen as if fearing that something might interrupt their little moment. But he kept on moving forward and eventually rested his forehead against the window directly in front of Aria.

The two children stared into each other's eyes as if searching for some unattainable thing within the depths of their souls. Each was still smiling, and every minute that passed seemed to widen these grins just a tad more.

All of a sudden the little boy started and backed quickly away from the window. Aria looked at him confused, but the light that filled his eyes was not one of fear, but one of discovery.

He reached toward the counter on the right and fumbled under the shiny toaster. His small fingers grasped something and he delicately clutched his treasure before going back to Aria. He opened his palm to reveal a key.

With this simple key he slowly unlocked the window that separated these two children with solemn authority. Then with trembling hands he lifted the window up enough to slide a small hand through and finally looked back up at Aria.

He bent down and put his mouth to the small crack. With a hushed tone he asked in a pleading whisper, "Are you going to leave me too?"

Aria reached inside that window and clasped the shaking fist of the young boy and responded in an equally soft voice, "Silly, I am your new friend… and friends stick together forever."

The boy first started at the hand that touched his own, wondering how human this angel appeared. But her voice and, more importantly, the words she said was the thing that caused his eyes to gain a vitality that had not appeared in a very long time.

Seeing his stunned expression Aria smiled again and continued.

"My name is Aria, and I can't keep calling you Lonely Boy… what is your name?" she murmured in almost a mothering tone.

It took a moment for him to respond, and when he did, wonder filled his voice at the young girl who actually wanted to know _his_ name.

"Harry… Harry Potter."

**Disclaimer: I can dream, hope, beg, and plead, but I will never own this fabulous series written by J.K. Rowling… Although if I did, Ron's hair would be chopped off in the fourth movie. Just saying.**


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